Carla Bruni defends Nicolas Sarkozy over Villepin allegations

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has dismissed claims that her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, pulled strings to ensure his rival Dominique de Villepin was given a retrial for trying to smear him.

French first lady Carla Bruni-SarkozyPhoto: GETTY

By Henry Samuel in Paris

7:30AM GMT 01 Feb 2010

Mr de Villepin, a former prime minister, was acquitted last week on charges of conspiring to slander Mr Sarkozy in 2004 and wreck his presidential bid.

But the chief prosecutor decided to appeal the decision, saying "some of the truth had yet to emerge" in the case.

Mr de Villepin said the move had been decided during a meeting at the Elysée palace on Thursday night, and accused the president of pursuing a campaign of "relentlessness and hatred" unworthy of his calling. The justice minister yesterday denied the prosecutor had received any "instructions or incitement" from anyone when he decided to lodge the appeal.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, an ex-model, said she was "very surprised at the lack of confidence in expressed by Mr de Villepin and the media in the French justice system and the lack of independence attributed to it."

"I believe fundamentally in the independence of the judiciary, I am stunned by this sort of allegation," she told French radio.

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The first lady, who had agreed to an interview with RTL radio on Saturday to talk about her charity work fighting Aids in Africa, reportedly threatened to walk out when quizzed about the Clearstream case. "I feel taken hostage on this matter in a not very courteous manner. I want to leave," she reportedly said.

The Italian-born folk rock singer said she was not competent to speak about the case and "it doesn't interest me one bit".

When asked why she had been seen less often in public of late, she told Le Parisien: "I've always lived like a hermit I'm not necessarily that sociable."

Afterwards, she told reporters: "I have nothing against you in particular, but I regret that journalists often attach importance to froth. That's perhaps why I don't appear so often." On Tuesday, she and the French president will mark their second wedding anniversary.

Described as an "atypical" first lady by Le Parisien, she said: "I am trying to useful, that's all."